VITUS RI-101 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER REVIEW

“Many factors make just about any significant purchase a tricky decision and a serious audio amplifier is no different. Price is a prominant place to start. The reputation of the manufacturer is indeed another. The appearance and general presence of the product, its future compatibility with the rest of the system, perhaps the potential for an upgrade and the reality of how it compares with rivals. All these things are likely to play a part. But, maybe the most important thing for me is just whether I enjoy listening to it. A strange comment perhaps. I can’t remember the last time I heard an amplifier that was “bad”. By that, I mean an amplifier that left me emotionally cold and disinterested. Desirability though is a different matter and carries a lot of intangibles that are personal to each of us. This new integrated Vitus knocks it out of the park on so many levels, and the ability to supplement its capabilities with a genuinely excellent onboard retro-fittable DAC or streamer shouldn’t be underestimated, especially taking into consideration the extra costs concerning space and cabling that a separate DAC will incur. It also has that sense of drive-anything power and stability and a seriously engaging sense of very fine detail with something of an iron fist behind it. Musically it has all the Vitus hallmarks of really elastic rhythmic focus and precision coupled with excellent tonality and balance. I can see it being an excellent investment for the serious music lover for years and years. When an amplifier is this good, it has to get a recommendation from me. ”